The year after
by RogueWolf18
Summary: The gang is frammed for murder, their only way to avoid the cops until there name is cleared, is the find shelter with a newly found friend. Better summery inside!
1. The Girl

All right, well I started writing this story last year and then forgot about it and picked it up again,

_**Summery: **Soda and Steve save a girl from being beaten by a group of socs, Only to find out that she works at the rodeo stable. When the gang becomes the victim of a framing of a murder, the girl they saved earlier offers them shelter; The Socs hearing of this do everything they can to get them sent to jail, no matter who gets in their way, but the stable hands have other things in mind _

The sun was bright, and air was cool and Steve and Soda had just finished working on a car. It was a nice one to, Matt black, 65' Stingray convertible. It was having engine problems so it was dropped off for the boy's to look at. They were being paid extra, and if they did a good job, tipped.

"Did ya find out what was wrong with it?" Soda inquired coming out of the shop with two Cokes in hand; Steve was under the hood of the car.

"I think so." He climbed underneath it and started to pull. "Got it!"

"Got what?"

"The problem." He said climbing out from underneath it holding a greasy, tattered object in his hand.

"What the hell is that?" Soda jumped back at the sight of the horrid thing.

"A bird! A big one! jammed in the fan!"

"A bird? How did it get in there?" Soda said handing Steve the Coke with one hand and taking the dead bird with the other.he gave it a questioning look and then threw it in a pile of old worn out car parts.

"Who knows!"

The two started laughing about the whole idea that there was a bird in the engine of a car when a young kid ran around the corner and bumped into Soda, causing both Soda, and him, to fall over backwards. Steve tried to catch Soda before he fell to the ground, but wasn't so successful. The kid fell over and scrambled to stand back up his feet.

"Hey kid watch were you going!" Steve yelled trying to help his best friend off the ground. Soda had finally gotten up and brushed himself off. They both looked at the kid, studying him. He had a baseball cap on and a jeans jacket, he looked as if Soda had just pulled a gun on him. Soda and Steve heard shouting and directed their attention toward four or five Socs rounding the corner.

"Stop that kid!" they yelled.

"Grab that kid'!"

Steve looked back at the kid who was trying to make a break for it "Oh no ya don't!" He said grabbing his arm. "You not going anywhere!"

"No ya don't understand!" the kid yelled "Lemme go!"

"Gemme, a good reason." Steve demanded tighting his grip on the kids arm.

The Socs caught up with the kid that was squirming in Steve's arm. "I guess you Greasers are good for somthin!" The tallest guy said, Taking the kid from Steve "Thought you were smart, Hu?" He said taking the hat off. "Not as smart as us!" He threw the hat on the ground and the kid's long hair fell down, it wasn't a guy but a girl. She had long, Jet black hair.It came to her lower back, it was shinny and smooth looking, like silk, but frayed from being underneath the hat and strips of it fell in front of her face. It was parted on the side so her hair covered the left side of her face.

"If Ah aint smarter than you, how come it took ya'll three day t' findmeh hu?" She said in a feisty southern accent.

"Don't get smart!" The tallest guy said holding her arms behind her back he laughed in amusement watching her try to break free.

"What are you doin' to her?" Soda asked.

"Greasers should stick to there business! Understand!" one of the Socs came up and tried to punch Soda, The girl took advantage of the distraction and steeped on the guy's foot, then she threw her head back, smashing it against his face, crushing it. He let go to hold his face and then realized what he'd done. "Get her!" He commanded, "Don't let her get away!" The group took off after her and Soda and Steve ran after them. It wasn't long before they had her cornered. The girl curled up and braced her self for the beating she was about to receive. Just as one of the guys Drew back a fist, a hand stopped it. Soda had grabbed the guy's hand, when he turned to see who had grabbed his hand, Soda gave an evil smile and punched him in the face. Grabbing him and pushing him aside, he then grabbed another guy and punched him in the stomach, making him fall to the ground. Steve started beating up the other guys and the two successfully chased them off. Soda put his hand on the girls shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, without skipping a beat, she balled up her right fist, pulled it back, and rammed it into his cheek, delivering a hard right hook. Soda held his face in surprise.

"What's the matter with you!" Steve yelled while holding on to Soda'sshoulders "We just saved your life, and you do this?"

"Ahm, So, so sorry!" She cried, "Ah didn't mean to!" The girl put her hand up to her mouth, and closed her eyes. "Ah, ah didn't see, Ah, ahm sorry!"

"It's, it's okay." Soda said rubbing his cheek. It was gonna be brused and he knew it.

Steve looked at him like he'd killed someone. "You feelin' okay buddy?"

"Yeah! After all it was just self-defense! Right?" The girl nodded and the two of them looked at her. Her eyes were wild, it reminded them of Johnny. The only difference was that her eyes were bright blue, an Icy blue, a blue that looked as if they were colder that ice them selves, but they were not hard, just colored that way.her eyes held fear, a deep fear, just as Johnny's had.Soda wanted to ask her name, ask her where she lived, anything, but before he could figure out what to say, she pushed her way though them, and ran off. Soda shook his head.

"What was that about?" Steve said scratching his small side burns.

"We may never know!" Soda answered.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Didja like it? I hope so!

Her Accent is suttle, only being pronounced in the words I Ah/ Me Mhe/ My Mhy...Etc... the rest is southen slang


	2. Trip anyone?

"And these guys were chasing her!" Soda explained "But we stopped em'"

"Yeah! And my buddy got a hard right hook to the face as payment!" Steve laughed as he poked Soda's burse.

"Yeah and she left quite a mark!" Two-bit said hopping off the couch to take a look a the purple-ish mark "What's that say if ya get hurt by a girl?"

"Man she can punch hard. I think she would have broke my nose if i didn't turn in time" He saidwincing in pain as he rubbed it. "But," he paused "She reminded me of Johnny," everyone fell silent. "Ya know, all sacred looking and stuff."

Pony looked down at his feet. It had been a little over a year since he died, last november.Pony often visited his grave. He missed his buddy more than anything and often visited his grave, Dally's too.

"So," Two-bit spoke up, trying to change the subject "What'd she look like?" he looked at Soda with a raised eyebrow. "Was she good lookin'?"

Soda thought for a moment

"She was a little shorter than me," he said holding his hand out to measure up. "Her hair was Jet black and long. And she had light blue eyes." He looked as if he were in a daydream

"Hey, if she's that good looking you have to drift out of reality than we should leave you alone." Two-bit joked

"Ha, Ha very funny Two-bit!"

"Why were the Socs chasing her?" Darry asked walking into the living room form the kitchen.

"Hell ifwe know." Steve shrugged

"She didn't really look like she was minding her own business though, she was disused, dressed in pants and a jeans jacket, with her hair all put up under a cap."

"Why do you suppose that is?" Pony asked

Soda shrugged.

"Hey, to get our minds off the trouble that we've been havin lately let's go to the stables tomorrow! I hear their havin' a few compitions" Two-bit suggested

"Can we?" Pony asked

"Well we have the day off tomorrow." Steve said looking at Soda

"And I can take the day off." Darry said rubbing his head

"God knows you know one!" Pony chuckled

"All right, tomorrow, we go to the stables!" Two-bit said in triumphant, as if he had just concord the Aztecs.

"We leave in the morning!" Soda added

Later on that night-

"Soda?" Pony asked sitting on the bed waiting for him

"Yeah?"

"You remember Johnny and Dally?"

Soda looked at him

"Yeah."

"We've known then most of our lives, we knew them better than anyone."

Soda smiled at his little brother

"Look kid, I know ho how ya feel." He said walking over to the bed. He sat down next to pony and put his hand on his shoulder. "I cared about them as much as you did, but there was nothing we could have done."

Pony was silent

"I shouldn't have run away." Pony muttered

"What?"

"If I didn't ran, Johnny wouldn't have killed bob, we wouldn't have been in Windrixville, he wouldn't have hurt him self…Dally wouldn't have gotten shot"

Soda looked in confusion at his brother.

"Shoot kid, they would have found Johnny in the lot and killed him there if you hadn't grabbed him!"

"How do you know?"

"Dally and I went lookin' for ya! We saw the Socs car drive past the lot. If anything you helped save his life, and anyway, he died a hero! Can you think of a better way to go?"

Pony shook his head

"C'mon, let's go to sleep." Soda yawned turning off the light

"Night Soda."

"Night lil' buddy." Soda said rubbing Pony's head before laying his arm across his neck and going to sleep.

Sorry it's so short, but I don't want to ruin a surprise!

Read, Review, Enjoy _**When life hands you oranges, make screwdrivers! **_


	3. You again?

Pony woke up to find that Soda had already woken up and got dressed; he smelled beacon cooking and wondered what time it was. He looked at the clock and rolled his eyes, 7:30 on a Saturday morning. He got up; pulled a fresh pair of pants on, with a somewhat clean t-shirt. He walked into the living room to see Two-bit, Steve, and Soda sitting on the couch. Darry had finished frying the rest of the beacon and was cleaning up. He grabbed a few pieces and remembered that they were going to the stables today.

"So are we ready?" Darry asked

"Yup!" Two-bit declared as he stood up to stretch

"I am." Soda said looking a Steve

"Me to!"

Pony rubbed his eyes to get the eye junk out of it "Yeah, I am."

"Well let's get going." Darry said grabbing his car keys

Soda and Steve got in the truckwith Darrywhile Pony rode with Two-bit

"You remember to fix the breaks?" Pony asked

"Damn, I knew I forgot something!"

Pony looked worried but Two-bit just laughed

"I'm just pullin' your leg kid" He rubbed Pony's head jokingly and reved the car.

When they arrived at the barn people were scattered everywhere.

"Wow theres a lot of people here to watch the show." Two-bit pointed out the obvious

"Acctually, some are here to learn how to ride." A female voice said behind them. "For fifty cents we teach, al two dollars ya ride."

"You tryin' ta do buisness?" Steve asked

She was a small brunette; she had blue green eyes and looked embarrassed by the fact that Steve asked her that

"Yeah! Mainly to get my name spread around and give the stable hands a workout."

"Really?" Steve asked in fake interest

"Really!"

The group was interrupted by a scream

"What the hell! Ya'll tryin to KILL meh?"

On the top of the barn there was a boy working on the roof, his hammer slipped and nearly hit a girl in the head. The girl was dressed like a guy; she had her long blackhair pulled back in a ponytail at the base of neck.

"Sorry!"

"Sure ya are!" The girl said with asmiled as she tossed the hammer back up to him, nearly nailing him in the face.

"Pay back?"

"You know it!"

"That reminds me, OH RICKY!" The brunette shouted waving her hand "I have work for you!"

The boy and the girl looked at the brunnette and then looked at each other in bordom. to thegang's surprise the girl walked over, not the guy. As she walked over Soda and Steve recognized her, it was the girl form before.

"Yes?" The girl sounded board

"Now that's not very enthusiastic."

The girl sighed and forced a smile,

"Yes Ms. Smith?" She said mocking her

"I want you to fetch the mouse!" She said in discust

The girl raised an eyebrow

"He has a name!"

"Well you know which one I'm talking about, you know,The horse!the brown one with black mane." She was talking down to her the entire time

"Yeah, Ah know, don't give your self a heat attack tryin to describe im' to meh! God knows Ahm, the idiot! Oh, and Ms. Smith, Only mah friends can call meh Ricky!"

"But aren't I you friend?" She said innocently.

"Don't humor yourself, I don't make friends with rich snobs!" She said in a harsh tone. Her eyes shifted toward the boys behind her, one in particular boy caught her eye. Her eyes grew huge. "You!" the said in a shocked tone

"Know her?" Two-bit asked Soda

"You know this boy?" The brunette asked Ricky

"Ah ran into him once."

"Literally!" Steve said

"Um, this is the girl that was being chased by the Socs!"

Pony saw Two-bit grin and knew that he was thinking about the girl, she did look cute, for a girl dressedlike a guy. The girl rolled her eyes and walked off.

"Interesting, well I'm Pamela." She said sticking out her hand for on of the boy's to shake it. Darry did and smiled slightly. " I believe a proper introduction is in order."

"I'm Steve, this here is Two-bit, Darry, Ponyboy, and Soda." Steve said pointing to everyone

"Ponyboy? Soda?" She laughed. They all just stared angrily at her, trying to be nice, she kept laughing, "I like the sound of that, their very nice names." Pony knew she was lying.

Soda grabbed a cigerett from his pocket and stuck it his mouth. Steve did the same. Pony grabbed one from Two-bit who already had one out, Pony lit his from Two-bits and Steve bummed a lit from Soda's match.

A few seconds later Ricky walked back out with a buckskin horse, he had only his bridle on and walked him over the Pamela.

"What do you want with im'?"

"Warm him up! I'm going to ride him!" she walked over to him and tried to pat him. He reared up and tried to run, but Ricky was claming him down, she grabbed his halter and put her nose too his. "Ok, it's ok, every things fine, shhhh." She mumbled, "Shhh." After he calmed down she looked a Pamela who was shaking in fear.

"Ah don't think he likes ya!" Ricky laughed

"Just, just warm him up and shut up stable girl!" Pamela demanded.

"Anything ya say Pam!" Ricky said in a dicusted, evil tone,as she hopped on the horse, "Hey can you open the gait?" She asked nodding toward Two-bit, He walked over and undid the metal latch and the gait swung open. She gave that horse a kick and a "Yaw!" and the horse reared up once more andsped off to the pasture,

"Wow, she's got spunk!" Steve said

"And not even a thank you!" Soda added

"I hate her!" Pamela said in a smug, harsh voice "she thinks she's better than every one!"

Two-bit wanted to get away from the girl a bad as the rest of them did

"Hey, let's go see the competition! Maybe someone will get hurt!" Two-bit laughed

" Who knows!" Steve said rolling his eyes "Ya comin'?" He looked at Soda

"Um, Just a sec, I wanna go see somthin! Save me a spot!"

"Your loss!"

Soda waited until his friends were out of sight, then he hopped the fence to the pastor and went to go find that one girl he saw earlier. It wasn't long before he came across an old arena; it was just simple red railing fencing in jumps and polls lying on the ground. In the middle of the arena he saw the girl riding the horse around the arena, not even noticing he was there.

"Hey!" He yelled trying to get her attention by waving his arm in the air. The girl stopped the horse and looked at him, she walked the horse over the where he stood at the fence.

"Yeah?"

"I got some questions I wanna ask you." Soda said putting his foot on the first bar of the rusty metal fence. he flicked away the bud of his cigerett.

"Ok, shoot."

"1. Don't I get a thank you?"

"Why?" She hopped off the horse and stood in front of him on the side of the fence.

"I saved you life!"

"Ok, thank you." She said in a thankless tone of voice

"Ya gotta mean it, other wise it don't mean nothing!" Soda said with a childish grin on his face. he had placed his arms on the rail and used it for support

"Ok, Thank you! Really, I mean it you saved mah life! Ah owe ya, mah life in return!" She said trying to hold down laughter

"I guess that works." He said lighting up another cigerett

"What, were you expecting a kiss?" She said with teasing smile.

"Maybe?" He said with even bigger grin on his face. He leaned over the fence to get closer.

"Sorry kid, Ah don't fall for the heroes! nor do I like smokers, It'll kill ya, and they don't make ya look anythougher that ya do already."

Soda looked at her in astonishment, she read him like a book, but he wouldn't let her notice. He took the white burning stick in his mouth and threw it down the the ground, grinding it into the sand with his foot.

"You don't dream of someone comin to save you?" He asked trying to stay on subject

"Ah can protect mhy self!"

"Oh, like ya did at the gas station?"

"Ah'll admit that that got out a hand, but I guess you really did save mhy life."

"And the thank you, you gave me was one like I never got before!"

"Oh, you don't like bein punched in the face?"

"No, not really." he rubbed his cheek once more

"Ahm sorry." She said with a fake pout."

" That sounded like ya meant it, ok, 2 why were the socs chasing ya?"

"Said they don't like mhy kinda girl hangin around their town."

"So they just chased ya?"

"No, I kinda ignored them, and they got mad, said I had to be a Greasers woman."

"Are ya?"

"Nope, just a poor ol' stable hand working for a livin, I only got two close friends, and Ah don't even know anybody here."

"What were ya doin in town then?"

"Lookin for some one, andAh needed more matches for my lanturn."

"So you disguised your self to hide?"

"I only took my hat to confuse em' If I really wanted to hid, I would of dressed like a "Normal"gal."

"So you always look like that?"

"Yup, aint nothing wrong with that."

"Didn't you mom tell ya that that aint how ladies dress?" he asked jokingly

"Yeah, several times but…I aint no lady, nether was she come ta think of it."

Soda smiled at her, she had spunk and individuality.

"Ok, 3, what's you name?"

"Why do you care?"

"Just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Good thing I'm a dog." Soda said with a raised eyebrow

"Ah can't tell ya meh first name. You'll laugh! mhy middle name's Roxanne, but everyone call meh "Ricky", or "Roxy" some times Anna. Your name?"

"Soda." He said waiting for a reaction

"Wow, that's just a strange as mhy name!"

"Really! If my name's as "strange" as yours, than you can tell me."

She blushed

"Ahm not gonna tell ya,"

"Why not?"

"Cause, Only mhy brother or family can call meh by mhy name, people Ah love, that means not you!"

"Oh, come on, can it be that bad?"

"Yup"

"So I guess I'll have to wait for you family to call ya."

She smiled at him,

"They don't call mhe that in public, well…they do if Ahm I trouble."

"Do you get in to trouble a lot?"

"All the time, but Ah really have to be in trouble for that to happin."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Look, You aint never gonna get it, Ah haven't seen mhy family since a little over a year ago." Her smile faded

"What happened?"

She took a deep breath and looked as if she was gonna cry

"We got separated."

"How?" Soda looked at her in concern

"Ah don wanna talk a bout it."

"So…you haven't seen them? In how long exactly?"

"Mah parents three, mah brother a little over a year, we got split up on the way over here, we were lookin for a friend here when he felt he had to help with a fire that happened in that town just west of here, WindrixvilleAh think."

Soda's heart skipped a beat

"Wi - Windrixville?"

"Yeah, Why?"

"No reason." he siad shaking his head, trying to get the memories out of his head

The two just stood there and looked at each other for a while before Ricky remembered that she had a job,

"C'mon, I got to take "Mick" here to Ms. "Am better everyone else!"" she said walking off,

Soda laughed

"The horses name? What is it?" he said trying to catch up with her

"Mickey Mouse."

Soda stopped in his tracks,

"Mickey Mouse?"

"Yeah, why?"

Soda walked a head of them and when she tried to catch up he stopped her.

"Wait here," Soda walked a little more a head and then stopped. "Mi-ckey mou-se!" Soda shouted and a sing song-ish voice. The horse's ears picked up and ran towards him.

"How'd you do that?" Ricky asked

"I used to know him." Soda said rubbing the horses' head, "He's changed."

"He's real mean horse! Kicks and bites."

"Well, maybe not that much."

3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

You like?

Okay, that was long, real long, but I hope you like it!


	4. Old friend found

"So you worked here, when you were younger, and found this horse when he was just a colt?" Ricky asked

Ricky rode along side Soda, still trying to get the horse ready for a run.

"Yup."

"And you and him were close?"

"U-hu!"

"Well," She said hopping off the horse, "Try him out!" she patted the saddle

"Oh, no I…"

"Come on!"

Soda grabbed the horn of the saddle and swung his leg over the other side and put his feet in the stirrups. He grabbed the reins in his hands.

"You remember how to ride?"

"Sure I do."

"Okay, he's all yours! All you have to do is…"

Mickey running forward and then stopping cut her of. Soda looked startled. Soda had lightly kicked him before Ricky could tell him not to

"All you had to do was lightly squeeze and click your tongue." She said coming up beside him, She leaned into the horse's ear and whispered something, then patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, remember, just squeeze and click."

Soda took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he squeezed and clicked his tongue twice, he horse started to walk and then trot.

"Come on, be a man!" Ricky said jogging next to him,

"I like to trot." Soda said

"Non since!" Ricky said "I hope you like surprises!

"Why?"

Ricky slapped Mickey's hip and the horse galloped off.

"That's why!"

Soda held on for dear life as the horse raced off, he quickly came to his senses and grabbed the reins and tuned the horse around.Roxanne couldn't help but laugh so hard that she fell over.

"Nice steering!" She said wiping a tear away

"No thanks to you." Soda stuck his tongue out at her

Ricky looked at her watch, she stopped laughing and started to panic, Soda brought the horse back up to her and saw that she looked worried,

"What's wrong?" He asked sliding off the horse

"Ah, gotta go!"

Ricky climbed back on the horse and got ready to take off.

"Wait, what is going on?"

"Ahm, late, I have to get this horse back to pam and then I have to prep a horse for the saddle bronc division."

"Don't I get a ride?" Soda said looked at her, a sly grin on his face

"I don't think Ah can."

"Come on!" He had his arms open wide and a winning smile on his face "What could happen?"

"Ah. Could get fired!"

"That would be bad?"

"Very." she kicked the horse and he started to run off.

"Well don't I at least get to see you again?" stopping the horse from running off by grabbing the saddle. His look was serious and determend.

Ricky stared at him with a questioning look on her face

"See me again? This wasn't a date." She nearly laughed in amusement at the fact that he wanted to see her again

"Well what if I wanna talk to you again?"

Ricky shook her head and started to take off, "You can see me any time… I live here!" She kicked the horse and clicked her tongue; she sped past him and messed up his hair by rubbing his head with her open hand as she rode by. Soda watched her ride off.

'Okay' Soda thought walking back to the stabels.'She had a LOT of spunk and liked to joke around, she was friendly to! Not nervous and shy, but she also didn't flirt me, like all that other girls,a nice change for once'

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Okay real short, just seemed like a good place to end luv ya! Review or I'll stop lovin ya, kiss kiss!


	5. Rodeo!

**_Banana2244,_** Thank you for you review! I know it can be confusing, but if you want I can take it out! Just ask me, all of you! You got anything to help improve my storie and I'll do the best I can!

"Where ya been?" Two-bit asked Soda, moving over so Soda would have a place to sit "What ja' wanna check out?" He said cocking an eyebrow

"I wanted to see if I could sign up for any events."

"You know what happened last time." Darry warned

" I know, but I thought I could try."

Two-bit cocked an eyebrow and looked Soda in the eye, sending him a mental message, telling him that he knew he went to see that girl

The rider had just loaded into the gait when he noticed Ricky bringing the next horse, he was a snoy white and tall, strong, a good horse.

Soda's thoughts

She looked like she was having trouble, the horse didn't want to go into the gait but she gave him a good tug on the halter and led him in, after he was in the the starting gait,the rider got situated, She looked as if she was trying to tell him someting, buthe shook his hand looking like he didn't care what she had to say, she shrugged her shoulders and hopped off the side of the gait. it wasthewhite horse's turn and as soon as the gait opened, he took off like a bat out of hell, the horse spun in circles and did short jumps trying to knock the guy off. I saw Roxanne laughing, the horse finally got the guy off his back but didn't stop there, the horse turned around and charged the guy, he ran for the wall and jumped it, the horse skidded to a halt and started to beat the wall with his hooves. Roxanne climbed up on the other side of the fence and waited for the horse the bring his head close to the wall, I gotWorried when the horse tried to hurt her, I wasn't sure what she was doing, but she smacked him up side the head and he stopped. I couldn't help but laugh and Two-bit knew I wasn't watching the rodeo.

Ricky's thoughts

I couldn't believe I had to get Cyclone to the starting gait,((The white horse))I knew Pam was doing this on purpose, but I really didn't mind, I couldn't help but think about that Soda guy, he was kinda cute in a round about sorta twisted way, if you were into that sorta thing, "The Cyclone" gave me a bit of trouble, bit I tugged on the halter and told him to calm down or he wouldn't get any mints tonight, I know, big threat but he's a sucker for em'. I tried to tell the guy riding him NOT the kick him but he told me that he knew what he was doing, he had been doing this for a long time and I just worked there, so I shouldn't bother him with stupid advice, I knew what was in store for him so I sat back and enjoyed the ride. As soon as the door opened he kicked Cyclone, I knew he would, Cyclone got pissed and was gonna make the guy pay,a spur in the side can really hurt ya if you aint used to em, Cyclone got him off but decided to kill him instead, after he jumped over the side of the wall I decided it was enough, Cyclone was to mad to talk to so I decided to do the only other reasonable thing, pop him. I hit him on the side of the head and said that he was gonna get no mint from me. He stopped and I waited for the other guys to come get him. I walked over to the side of the barn and saw pam waiting there for me,

"Roxanne," she said "Take Mickey back to his stall with out his cool down."

"But Ms. Smith," I tried to reason, "That could hurt him"

"I don't care, he's a stupid horse."

I took Mickey and took him the long way to his stall and conveniently took a wrong turn so I had to take him back around, that way he got a little but of a cool off. After I took the saddle off I got a water bottle of cold water and poured it on his back, and then I turned on the fan in his stall I put in a week earlier. I closed the bottom door so he wouldn't get out, but I kept the top one open so I could talk to him

Soda walked down to the barn after Two-bit asked him to get him a coke and told him that there was a place to get one inside the barn and winked at him. Soda was embarrassed that Two-bit knew about him talking the Ricky he walked in to the barn and saw her sitting on a bench in front of a stall petting a horse and feeding him something,

"Ya know Mick, Am startin to think that she hates the both of us."

The horse nodded and she laughed

"Did she ride ya too hard?"

The horse moved his head side-to-side and nickered

"Ahhhhh, well the worst for today is over, want another mint?"

The horse threw back his head and neighed real loud and She laughed and dug in her pocket

"All right, all right, hold yer horses!"

"Can I have one of those mints?" Soda asked _(I don't know if mints were around back then but in this story they are)_

Soda startled her and he knew it,

"Glory, there aint no reason to go jumpin like that, there's no need to be afraid of me."

"You just startled meh is all,Ah wasn't afraid."

"You havin a nice talk with Mickey here?"

"Maybe."

"Can I join ya?"

"Mickey?" Roxanne asked the horse, the horse looked at Soda and moved forward to sniff of him, after a moment of Mickey sniffing Soda, The mighty horse moved it's head up and down and hit the ground with his hoof several times, Roxanne giggled.

"Well we have our answer."

Soda sat down on the opposite end of the bench as Roxanne so Mickey's head was in between them

"So which one of the many names do I call ya by?"

"Well, there's Roxanne, Rick, Ricky is the most popular.."

"There's "_Foxy Roxy"_" a voice said next to them

"Who are you?" Soda asked

"Bradley Wilson, saddle bronc riding wonder" He took a bow

"Someone's full of them selves."

Tall lean and dark headed, he was muscular but didn't look that strong,

"I aint full of my self, I just have a lot of pride Foxy."

"Ah prefer you NOT call meh that,"

"Why not? Smart, pretty, slick, sounds like a fox to me." He walked up next the Ricky and looked Soda straight in the eye "Who'r you?"

"I'm Soda, Soda Curtis"

"Curtis? The one in that fire!" Brad asked getting exited

"No, that was my brother. Do we really look alike?"

"Don' know, didn't see the paper, I just herd it from a friend."

Sodalooked at Roxanne

"I was there, not here, member?"

"Soda?" Pony called from the entrance of the barn, "Soda?"

"Yeah? I'm here Pony!"

Ponyboy looked around for a minuet and jogged over to where he was sitting.

"Two-bit wanted to make sure you didn'tsteal his money."

'I odda knock him flat' Soda though "No, I haven't found a place yet."

"What areyou doin here?"

"I found an old friend." He said petting Mickey nose

"Who?' Pony asked

"Well Mick, looks like ol' pony don't remember you! Pony it's Mickey."

Pony's jaw dropped

"Mickey Mouse! THIS IS HIM?" Pony asked with his jaw nearly hitting the ground

"You Soda's brother?" Roxanne asked giving pony the once over

"Yeah, how could ya tell?"

"Ya look alike in the face." Roxanne informed him

Pony was told that by Johnny when he was in Windrixville

"Than are you the Curtis that was in that fire?" Brad asked insensitively, Pony looked depressed and upset

"Yeah."

"An you friend died?" Pony said nothing

Roxanne stood up and smacked him in the head as hard as she could then twisted his ear

"Brad you IDIOT! How on earth did you get so insensitive?"

"Ow, I didn't ow…stop it! OW!" Roxanne kept twisting his ear backwards. All brad could do was wince in pain.

"It's okay." Pony said almost inaudible to human ears "Yeah, he did."

"Pony." Soda said "C'mon let's go he said putting his hand on Pony's shoulder and started to walk off with him.

"Soda?" Soda turned to look at Roxanne "Here." She tossed him a coke out of the bag next to her feet "Your friend wanted one?"

"Yeah." He said catching it in mid air "See ya round."

"See ya."

Woot woot! I love where this is going! Oh, Roxanne's accent is small, she only pronounces I and Me and my, all the others are southern slang. Tell me what ya think! review


	6. Learning about a stranger from a friend

Okay okay i must say that...

**JenniferLongo**: She is not related to any one in the story...she was good frinds with...you know what. I'll let you read on to find out who she knew and why shes here! god i'm evil!

Banana4422: I'm glad you'll try to get used to the accents, cuse i don't want to go back and change them!

And now then...the story Chapter 6: Learning about a stranger, from a friend!

Pony's thoughts

Soda was staring into space, that girl he was talkin' to was a pretty one. I could understand why he would be interested in her. But I haven't seen him live this since Sandy, and even then, he didn't even stare into space like that when he was with her. She was different, she wasn't a regular girl, and she had something special.

"Soda?" I asked "you like her?"

Soda was silent; he was still looking in to space but his eyes showed that he was still listening

" I don't know…Maybe."

I couldn't help but smile, he did, and I was glad, he needed someone to fill Sandy's spot. I'm not sure she could, Soda was going to merry her, but maybe she could help take his mind off her, I sighed, she left last November, last year was very eventful.

"So Pony, what ya got planned next weekend?" Soda asked

"Nothing, why?"

"No reason, just wanted to know."

I knew he would want to come back out here, and who could blame him? Horses, event riding, that girl…

"You wanna come back out here next weekend?" I asked for him

"Yeah, maybe if we get lucky, we can ride."

"You know some one that could let us?"

"Yep."

"It isn't that "Pamela?" is it?" I asked wondering if I had to put up with the wired Socy girl

Soda laughed

"No some one else."

"That other girl you were talking to?"

"She might let us if I ask her."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What's her name?"

"She said the her middle name was Roxanne, and that we should just call her that."

"Weird."

That was a highly uncommon name, but she didn't seem to be from a round here. She didn't even look familiar; she must have not been here for long, I would have remembered if I had seen her I would think. I just shrugged it off and followed Soda back to the arena and found the rest of the gang. We watched people try to stay on horses that looked as if the were as wild as the wind and just as agile. When we got home we were exhausted, I nearly passed out on the couch as soon as I got home, Soda went strait to bed and Darry went in to take a shower. I sat on the couch and looked at the clock, 9:00 in the evening, and it was only Thursday. I sighed and was happy that I didn't have any homework. After a moment of just sitting peacefully I got up and went to bed. When I woke up I found that I had woken up earlier that Soda and Darry, I got dressed and started to make breakfast, but it was only five o'clock in the morning. "Well…" I thought, "At least I have time to think." trying to think on the up side. I had all my things together and I was ready for school, so I had nothing else to do. After a minute for reflecting on the last few days, I found myself thinking about the girl, Roxanne? She did remind me of Johnny, but not the scared eyes, she was too confident at the time, to relaxed, but she did remind me of him before he was beaten, when he still could put on a brave or happy face, her hair was black like his, and her hair did cover her eyes, I just couldn't place my finger on it, but there were so many ways that she reminded of Johnny. I heard Darry stir in bed and decided it was time to make breakfast. I cracked open a few eggs and made some poorly made pancakes. After soda woke up he helped me with the rest of the pancakes and since we got up before Darry, he had to wash dishes.

On the walk to school I took in the scenery, the trees were in their bare, prickly stage, and the grass was no longer a soft fuzzy pastel green blanket that covered the rolling hills, but a prickly yellow brown crust of sharp jagged needles. The skies were cloudy and gray all the time, as if they had something to mourn, and the only birds that could be seen were crows and sparrows. I watched as they pecked at the ground in an attempt to get something to eat, I knew that there search would turn up poorly if they got anything at all. Worms would be dormant and seeds would have already been covered up by the earth's warm blanket of dirt. Having my mind on other things really helped me pass the time as I walked to school, I was a sophomore in high school and still made good grades, I finally had gotten over what had happened to Johnny and Dally, and finally accepted what had happened to them. As I stood in front of the school I saw Cherry standing with a group of Socs, they turned and gave he a hate filled glare as I walked by them, Cherry could only smile softly so only I could see it.

"Watch it grease!" one yelled

All I could do was keep walking, I didn't want to make a seen.

It seemed that classes went by fasted than usual and I started the long walk home in the unforgiving cold. As I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms together for warmth I heard some one run up behind me.

"Oh, Ponyboy!" the voice called out "Pony, wait up!" It was Cherry Valance, the girl who I met at the movies, the girl who watched sunsets and once gave me a great piece of advice

"Yeah Cherry?" I asked turning to greet her

"I haven't seen ya round in a while, I thought it would be nice if we could talk for a while."

I smiled

"Yeah, that would be nice."

We took the road that went through the wooded area of the park so the Socs wouldn't catch her, it was only a half mile walk from the school to her house and turned down a ride from both her parents and her friends just so she could talk to me,

"How the gang since…you know?"

"There doing okay." I said trying not to remember it took them a whole three months to start laughing and goofing around with out feeling bad.

"And your brothers?"

"Darry has stopped working so much and Soda has moved on since his girl friend"

"Pardon me? Since his girl friend…"

"Oh, sorry, Soda's girl friend Sandy…he was planned to merry her but…" I paused, and when I didn't say anything she urged me to continue, "She got pregnant with some other guys child."

"That's horrible." She said, "Why would she do that if he was planning to merry her?"

"She didn't know, and she didn't say."

"Dose he have anyone new?" She said with a curious smile on her face "Surely some one that cute can't stay single for very long."

"I think he likes this on girl, we met her at the barn…"

"Don't worry…I won't tell." She said as if reading my mind "Do you know her? Are they going out or just making fools of them selves talking to each other?" she asked with a grin. I laughed

"The last one."

"What dose she look like?"

"Long black hair, blue eyes, dresses like a guy, works at the stables…"

"He likes McCloud?"

I raised and eyebrow questioning what she had said

"Who?"

"McCloud…Roxanne McCloud." She explained

"Yeah."

"She's and okay girl, a bit rough a round the edges and her off putting manor is a bit well, off putting," she said with a grin. "But she's real neat, and takes a lot of chances, even if the result might be that every one hates her."

"You know her?" I asked putting a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it before the harsh bitter cold wind blew out the match.

"She helps with the horses, she hasn't been there that long, I'd say two months, but I've gotten to talk to her, she has a great judge of character and a good since of humor. She loves animals, especially horses, and she has a dog to, a white German Shepard I think."

"You know her well?"

"Were not good friends but we can swap a few words with out starting a fight, her southern accent is a real draw for some guys."

"When we were there I only saw her a few times but I saw Soda talking to her." I paused "We found Mickey."

"Pardon?"

"Mickey, Soda's horse, we found him, he old but looks like he's in prime condition. Soda's real happy," there was a moment of silence between us as we walked down the wooded path until the woods continued on no more. Before we could say their goodbyes a strong hand landed on my shoulder.

"Hey, Grease!" A deep voice boomed over my shoulder and into my ear "What chya doing whit a pretty girl like Cherry for?" He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and picked me up.

He was tall and thin, and had dark hair, he was a Socs al right, he apparently had taken Bob's place in the school, star football player, popular, had the head cheerleader as a girl friend, Cherry had stepped down as head cheerleader the week Bob died.

"I was just talking to her is all." Was all I could force out of my mouth.

"Sure you were greaser!" he was getting ready to pound the shot out of me I didn't know what to do

"Gary! Put him down!" I heard Cherry snap "I wanted to talk to him with out you all commin down on him!" She yelled

"What in the world would you wanna ask this greasy punk?"

"I wanted to ask him about Bob!" She cried with a forced tear.

I was shocked, she was a good actress, and I actually believed that she wanted to talk to me about Bob. Gary looked at me with a grimace and looked as if he'd rather beat me in then have me standing there looking at him, talking to Cherry.

"Fine…you tell me when this punk is bothering you!" He said giving me the deadeye and dropin me back to the ground.

"Cherr, why don't you forget this loser and get a ride home with me!" he suggested with a grin. I could tell he was tryin to pick her up, but Cherry didn't like him. But she had no choice, she could tell that if she didn't go with him they would jump me then and there.

"Well, I guess I'll be seein ya later Ponyboy." Cherry called as she walked with Gary to his car

"Yeah," I said "later."

sooooo….. Thoughts?

Review, please! Your opinions are worth a lot to me!

WoOt!

103.


End file.
